Saturday Juggling

To say it was a crazy day sums it up. Crazy in a good way though. Marianne ran the plant sale with the help of Mary and Sandy on register and Mike P, Ron W., Roy and Cathy out in the yard. Traffic was steady and it was definitely worth having open for this four hour window of time this morning. We had a fun group of gardeners from Michigan come to the gardens early this morning on a bus tour. I gave the introduction and tour and was finally able to introduce Dr. Yahr, our founder, to one of the many tours that I give each year. Dr. Yahr was nearby in the English cottage garden sweeping up. They also got to meet Polly. Directly above are some of the tour attendees. They really seemed to enjoy the gardens (particularly the Smelly Garden seen to the right) and while we prodded them to visit the plant sale, they just didn't have the time. Those bus tour attendees in favor of the visit to the plant sale pointed out all the open space underneath the bus for plants. To the left is one of the neat leaves of the 'Jurassic Dark' elephant ears (Alocasia plumbea) in containers near our kiosk.

We also had a great volunteer work day today as well. The very top image shows Margaret and Luis who helped Big John plant a good 50+ mums out in the North point garden. These deep red mums, just starting to open, should really extend color in that popular garden spot. The second picture down shows Sue who helped in the English cottage garden with Marti, Doris and eventually Margaret and Luis trickled over after their mum planting. Doris also worked in her assigned garden area. Jody had three friends (new volunteers) over in the color rooms garden and they worked on cutting back peonies, removing overgrown woody plants and collecting leaves. They brought back many cart loads of debris. While I had expected more volunteers this morning, we had a manageable and motivated crew (9 total?). Thanks to Big John for volunteering his time to help facilitate everything while I was absorbed with my tour. Our next volunteer work day is on October 22nd (8 am to 12 noon) where our focus will be on fall clean-up and significant bulb planting. On October 26th, I'll also be giving a lecture on Bulbs (6 pm - 8 pm) at the Parker Education Center (free for RBG members and $5 for all others). To the right is a container composition in the sunken garden. This is the golden elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta 'Elena') with calico plant (Alternanthera dentata 'Brazilian Red Hots') and the trailing, cutleaf sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas 'Illusion Emerald Lace'). In that same garden is this huge thicket of Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) seen below. While we grow this every year, I've not seen it get this substantial before!
Directly above are the glossy fruits of the native, cranberrybush viburnum (Viburnum trilobum). This shrub, found natively (at the gardens too) but also in the landscape industry, also gets a nice fall color and these fruits start as clear white flower clusters in May. Showy fruits can be extremely ornamental on any plant and may be quite valuable for wildlife as well. Larry had a busy day of dealing with my many radio calls about this and that as he also worked on running irrigation, watering containers and other tasks. He's been our solid Saturday person for many years now and with John around on Sundays, we have good weekend "representation." Bill O. was in to check all the garbage, water mums and in general, help out where needed. Marv was in all morning sifting compost and he not only processed a good-sized pile, his labor has created a large load of "ready to be used" compost that should find a home next week. Dr. Gredler was in for some lawn repair and Dr. Yahr was out and about helping here and there. To the above right is one of our winter squash (Cucurbita mixta) varieties ripening on the vine at the Horticulture Center. This is 'Pipian from Tuxpan' which a Mexican variety grown primarily for tasty seeds which can be cooked like pumpkin seeds. The outer flesh has this interesting green and white streaked appearance and each fruit is about the size of a bowling ball (and averages 6 lbs.). To the left is the golden foliage of the 'Golden Delicious' pineapple sage (Salvia elegans). This annual will get red flowers in about two weeks but I've noted, for the first time, that some are even developing this pinkish fall color? Weird but quite showy. This might actually be some very light frost damage as well creating some interesting color changes. To the right is the native Riddell's goldenrod (Solidago riddellii) with narrow leaves and large, golden flower clusters lasting well thru September. These specimens, just outside the English cottage garden, are just starting to fill in and were planted last fall. Below is some of the rock work progress down between the alpine garden and North Point garden and at the bottom are the inflorescences of the 'Red Head' fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) out in the gardens. This variety blooms earlier than many of the others and has been reliably hardy. This Monday will involve the dismantling of the fall plant sale and a shift back to our pre-fall chores out in the gardens.